Trust is the bedrock of relationships with our families, employees and customers. The speaker, writer and consultant Simon Synek says, “Until we feel that we can rely completely on the person to the left of us or the person to the right of us, we can’t really achieve anything great.” He also suggests that trust is a uniquely human feeling and one that can’t easily be quantified.
Synek is the author of “Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t.” If you don’t have time to read the book, check out an interview on the NPR Ted Radio Hour by just googling “Trust-And-Consequences”. Then listen a bit longer to hear Rachel Botsman speak about the digital trust economy that has as well, deep implications for retail furniture businesses.
Customers give themselves permission to buy more (and more often) from companies that relieve them from the need to worry about being overcharged, left alone to solve problems, or have to deal with employees/systems that threaten to make their lives needlessly difficult. I’m sure you can think of a number of companies who, when the going gets tough, just don’t seem to have your back.
Employees perform better when they trust management to do the right thing for them, their customers and their communities. They must feel safe, says Synek.
Trust is hard to measure, takes time and effort to cultivate and is easy to lose. Yet cultivating it is the bedrock of your long term success. My suggestion is to look at how you and your company create trust at every touch point, and from every angle. Do some research, and maybe take trust building on as a goal and a practice.
Russell Bienenstock
Editorial Director/CEO
Russell Bienenstock is Editor-in-Chief of Furniture World Magazine, founded 1870. Comments can be directed to him at editor@furninfo.com.